Men's basketball | Ohio State 61, Michigan State 58: Craft does it again

OSU guard finds a different way to torment Spartans

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoKyle Robertson | dispatchOhio State forward Evan Ravenel blocks a shot by Michigan State’s Keith Appling during the second half, when the Buckeyes’ interior defense dominated.

After the Ohio State guard and Academic All-American ran a layup drill in scoring a career-high 21 points against the Spartans three weeks ago, they were determined not to let him do it again yesterday in a Big Ten tournament semifinal.

They succeeded. And they didn’t.

“He almost never got to the hole,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “This time he beat us with his jump shot.”

Craft scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, and 10th-ranked Ohio State shut down No. 8 Michigan State’s inside scoring to defeat the Spartans 61-58 in the United Center and advance to the championship game for the fifth consecutive season and the seventh time in eight years under coach Thad Matta.

Craft also had nine assists and four steals, and Deshaun Thomas added 16 points for the second-seeded Buckeyes (25-7), who will play fourth-seeded Wisconsin today. The Badgers upset regular-season champion Indiana in the other semifinal 68-56.

“We were hoping to get them again, and lo and behold, it’s the championship game,” guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. said.

The Buckeyes were humbled at Wisconsin 71-49 on Feb. 17. Yesterday’s victory was their seventh win in a row since then and might have assured them of a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced tonight.

“I would hope,” Matta said.

Derrick Nix had 17 points, Keith Appling 16 and Adreian Payne 12 for Michigan State (25-8), the third seed. But Ohio State limited the beefy Nix to one shot and seven points in the second half after he had seven shots and 10 points in the first.

The Spartans, who scored 20 of their 29 points in the paint and shot 48.1 percent in the first half, scored eight in the lane and shot 30.4 percent in the second.

Evan Ravenel said the Buckeyes took the fight to the Spartans after halftime.

“You’ve got to bring it to them before they bring it to you or you’ll lose every time,” Ravenel said.

Meanwhile, Craft took over the offense after the Buckeyes, and Thomas in particular, settled for too many three-point shots (14 of their 32 attempts overall) in the first half.

“That’s not our DNA,” assistant coach Chris Jent said.

Craft split the defense for a driving layup on Ohio State’s second possession to tie the score at 30, and he was off and running. He had 17 points, three assists and three steals in a span of 11 minutes as the Buckeyes built their lead to 55-47 with 7:22 remaining.

“In the first half, you definitely saw them plugging (the middle) more, getting in the gaps more,” Craft said. “In the second half, we just tried to do a better job of spacing and getting them to move side to side and getting them out of those gaps.”

Jent said, “We changed the area of the floor we were trying to attack, and our spacing was a little different within those sets.”

Michigan State got as close as 57-56 with 1:54 to play, but a flagrant foul on Nix (Craft made one free throw) and an offensive rebound by Thomas enabled the Buckeyes to possess the ball until Thomas made a jumper from the left elbow to increase their lead to 60-56 with 22.3 seconds to play. A Thomas free throw with 9.2 seconds left made the lead five points.

Matta said the Buckeyes’ activity on defense and their composure made the difference. Ohio State turned the ball over only five times and outscored Michigan State 11-0 off turnovers.

“They made adjustments, we had to make adjustments on the fly, and I thought our guys did a good job of that,” Matta said. “Great win for us.”